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She was relieved that he’d let her off the hook. Yet there was a part of her that longed to confide in him.
An extremely foolish part that needed to keep its mouth shut.
“He taught you along with the other Mavericks?”
“All five of us definitely know our way around a tool belt. We worked for our keep.” Done with his steak, he stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back against the beanbag, hands behind his head. “We all enjoyed it too.”
“There’s something really satisfying about completing a job, isn’t there?” She much preferred this safe topic of conversation to the family minefield. “These past months, I’ve had more than a few moments when I’ve been so pleased with the work I’m doing that I just have to stand back and look at it.” She’d often felt the same way while building websites, especially when she figured out a new tool or widget. She didn’t mention her job, though. It would only trigger more questions.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “It’s a great feeling. My dad didn’t just give us the tools to be able to fix things with our own hands—he showed the other tenants how to fix stuff too.” Daniel’s expression softened with the tremendous love he felt for his father, for his whole family. “That’s where the idea for my DIY show came from. I wanted to emulate Dad by teaching people how to do it themselves and save money. And also to give them an inexpensive place to buy the tools and products they need, aided by helpful assistants to answer their questions. At first, we did demonstrations and classes at the stores, but I wanted to reach as many people as possible, so we transitioned into videos.”
It didn’t hurt, she thought, that Daniel was so good to look at on the screen, that he smiled often, that his laugh was a deep bass. But he was so much better in person. Her reactions to him were more visceral—the curl of desire in her belly, the heat of her skin when he was near.
Just as she’d feared, the more she liked him, the harder it was to keep her distance. Especially in the warm firelight and the candles and lanterns he’d set out to keep the dark at bay, where she felt lulled into wanting what she couldn’t have. What she didn’t believe she was worthy of. Not anymore.
“Any video requests?” he asked.
“You have to do a video on installing a hot tub,” she found herself saying. “I’d love to install one off my bedroom so that I can get into it first thing in the morning, straight out of bed.”
“A hot tub? Off your bedroom?” His voice sounded strangled, his gaze sizzling hot and riveted on her lips, as though he wanted to devour them. As if he wanted to consume her.
The only thing that could have broken the spell was a puppy whining for food. Otherwise, Tasha might have dived on him and done all the devouring herself.
“I think that’s
Darla,” Tasha said, jumping to her feet and looking into the crate. Sure enough, the little puppy was squawking like a baby bird. “She must be hungry. Which is good, isn’t it? It means she’s feeling stronger, right?” She was babbling because Daniel’s eyes were so intense. As though he could see right through her need to put distance between them. “I’ll make some Puppy Chow for her.” Spanky grumbled and woke up, closely followed by Froggy. Concentrating on them was better than facing the look in Daniel’s eyes, the one that promised to ferret out all her secrets. “We should probably feed the boys too.”
“I’ll help you.” Leaning down to scratch a puppy ear, Daniel was close enough to heat her straight through.
Backing up, she stepped on the edge of her plate, her cutlery rattling to the floor, and she would have tripped if he hadn’t grabbed her.
Just as it had when he’d rescued her from the roof, his touch sent hot need racing through her.
“Why don’t we let the dogs run around a bit while we make up their food?” Her voice sounded as breathless as she felt.
“Actually,” Daniel said, “I should probably take them outside to do some business first.”
Talking about the puppies and their potty training should have squashed all sense of desire. Except it didn’t. Because watching him pick all three up in his big hands made her whole body hum, turning her wild inside and crazy with need.
He was so gentle. And yet so strong.
So gorgeous.
So sexy.
Get a grip, Tasha.
Only, that was her major problem. She wanted a grip. On him. All over him.
And she was actually spending the night here?
She’d survived falling off the roof. But temptation might very well be the death of her.
Chapter Nine
Daniel breathed in the cold, stormy night air, hoping it would cool him down. Tasha seemed completely unaware of how utterly desirable she was. As far as he could tell, she didn’t have a clue what her smiles and laughter did to him.
And she clearly had no idea of the fantasies his mind had conjured up when she’d mentioned hot tubs…
